After Philip Island, it would be hard for any race to match it for excitement and on-track action. But Malaysia was exciting for different reasons. The battle for the lead was intense and, to add to that, there were so many sub-plots: was Bastianini holding back? Would he have won if he could? Had Quartararo managed to close up behind Bagnaia and Bastianini, would Bastianini have played wingman to Bagnaia and tried to keep the Yamaha at bay? Did Bastianini overtake Bagnaia just to show that he could do so whenever he wanted and send a signal to Ducati?
What the race lacked in excitement, it more than made up for in suspense. As Bagnaia said after the race, the worst thing you can do as a rider is to back off and ride slower: that’s when mistakes happen. Of course, they also happen when pushing but for some reason, it’s a lesser risk than coasting around.
So, Bagnaia, Bastianini, Quartararo and Bezzecchi were all pushing like crazy: Bagnaia was out in front and had to fend off a determined Bastianini. Quartararo was pushing to catch them but also had to keep an eye on a charging Bezzecchi. If Bezzecchi could get past Quartararo, and Bagnaia remained in first place, then the championship was Bagnaia’s but he could do nothing about what was happening behind him: all he could do was lead.
Which is exactly what he did. Bastianini did get by but Bagnaia re-passed and that was all Bastianini could do: after the race, he said he had nothing left in his tyres to make a move stick. Was that the truth? There were some frantic conversations on the pit wall between the Ducati management but at no point did it appear that an approach was made to the Gresini team to ask them to instruct their rider to cease and desist: Bastianini was free to challenge the lead and that was that.
Perhaps Bagnaia didn’t see it that way but, nevertheless, the victory was his, leaving him with a 23-point lead heading to Valencia and the final race. We’ve seen before that nothing is guaranteed in the 2022 season, but it is hard to envisage a scenario whereby Bagnaia doesn’t become the world champion. Even if Quartararo wins in Spain, Bagnaia only needs to score two points to take the title (which would leave them tied on points but Bagnaia would take the title on wins). If Bagnaia finishes ahead of Quartararo, the championship is his. Given the nature of the Valencia circuit, with a slow corner leading onto the pit straight, which plays directly into the Ducati’s strengths, the Yamaha has no chance and yet, should Bagnaia throw himself out of the race, Quartararo has to win to wrest the title away. And the chances of that? Slim would be an understatement.
Quartararo is not just fighting Bagnaia: he is fighting the might of the eight-strong Ducati attack. Even Bagnaia is not solely fighting Quartararo: he is also fighting the might of the eight-strong Ducati attack, comprising riders who are more than capable of running at the front. Jorge Martin has proved to be devastatingly fast and was leading in Malaysia, only to throw it up the road while pushing to establish his lead. Zarco is fast: Marini and Bezzecchi are fast: Miller is fast but has been less consistent, while di Giannantonio seems a little lost, still, that’s a lot of opposition that should be on your side but, in the absence of team orders in the Ducati camp, Bagnaia is fighting almost the whole grid.
If there was one image that I will take away from Malaysia, it was not the race but an incident that occurred in practice. Now, we are all used to the title protagonists becoming ever shorter of temper as the season draws to a close and the line on which everything rests becomes ever narrower. Quartararo has watched his once-unassailable lead destroyed as he has experienced a slump in form.
Under those circumstances, it would be entirely understandable for Quartararo to descend into a pit of despair from which it would normally be impossible to emerge until the job was done and the outcome decided one way or another. But we are talking about a rider who has shaken off his moments of self-doubt with the comfort of that first championship title under his belt: the pressure is off, in other words. Not that that dilutes the desire to win, but Quartararo has clearly elevated himself to another level this year.
The incident occurred, as I mentioned, during one of the practice sessions, or it could have been prior to qualifying. I forget, but it was hugely revealing.
The pit garage door was half closed and one of the official pit lane cameramen was standing outside the Yamaha garage. He had put his camera down for a moment and Quartararo mischievously pinched it and hid it in a locker in the garage. The cameraman noticed his camera had gone and peered under the roller shutter door, whereupon Quartararo retrieved it and handed it back with a huge grin.
He was then pictured sitting in his seat in the pit garage, laughing at himself as he watched the incident being replayed for the television viewers, the feed of which is relayed onto the screens for the riders to watch.
That, to me, said infinitely more about Quartararo than anything else this season. At the moment when he has to be feeling the immense pressure of the championship battle, coupled with a disastrous last few races which have seen his seemingly unassailable points lead be completely overturned to the point where his hopes of back-to-back championships have all but evaporated, he is laughing and joking in the pits. Quite incredible.
And so what every race promoter wishes for has come to pass: a last-race showdown. This will feel like the longest two weeks for Quartararo and Bagnaia and the race will be incredibly tense. With so much at stake, it is unlikely that we will get another race like Philip Island which is our loss but, as in Malaysia, the tension will have a different flavour and it will only be at the end of the race that we’ll all be able to breathe again!
The wait until the first round of the 2023 championship will be interminable but perhaps we’ll need the break!
